Dry well forming receptacle



Oct. 30, 1962 Filed Jan. 4, 1960 A. R. TAYLOR DRY WELL FORMINGRECEPTACLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 30, 1962 A. R. TAYLOR 3,060,693

DRY WELL FORMING RECEPTACLE Filed Jan. 4, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UnitedStates Patent 3,060,693 DRY WELL FORMING RECEPTACLE Arthur R. Taylor,Nashua, N.H., assgnor to Brown Company, Berlin, N.H., a corporation ofMaine Filed Jau. 4, 1960, Ser. No. 207 3 Claims. (Cl. 61-13) Thisinvention relates to fluid receptacles and particularly dry wells of thetype used to receive a sudden charge of water and to store ittemporarily until it seeps into the ground.

In Imany cities it is now illegal to allow rainfall run-off from theroof of a house to ilow into the regular sanitary sewers. Storm sewers,it they exist, are often spaced such a distance away that it involvesconsiderable expense to connect to them. Because of these and otherfactors it has become a common practice to have rain spouts dischargeinto dry wells, that is, wells below the surface of the ground whichlare normally dry instead of full of water. Where no sanitary sewersexist, the discharge water from washing machines and the like is alsovery often disposed of in the same way.

The purpose of all such wells is to store water temporarily until it candrain away by scoping slowly into the ground. In order to prevent thesoil around the well hole from collapsing, it has been customary to lillit with rocks or large stones before it -is covered. These occupy muchof the space in the well itself land thus make it necessary to excavatea volume that greatly exceeds the volume of water the well is to hold.Furthermore, rocks of the proper size are frequently not available atthe site and hence must be located and hauled there at considerablebother and expense. Probably the biggest problem with this type ofconstruction, however, is that surrounding sand and dirt frequently washinto the interstices of the well to such an extent that the capacity ofthe well to store water is impaired.

It is, therefore, one of the principal objects of this invention toprovide a simple yet more effective dry well construction.

Another object of the linvention is to provide a dry well constructionof lightweight yet strong material, capable of being buried under asubstantial amount of earth.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a dry well whichrequires little maintenance.

Other objects of this invention will be obvious from the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a receptacle for use in a dry wellaccording tothe invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2 2 of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 are sectional views taken on lines 3 3, 4 4, and 5 5-,respectively, of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an isomeric view of a modification of the receptacle of lFIGS.l-S also in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7 7 of FIG. 6, and

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of another modification in accordance withthe invention.

In brief, the objects of this invention are achieved by the formation ofa bundle of fiber pipes provided with a cover and adapted to receive adistributing pipe with an inlet for connection to a drain. Thiscombination is particularly suitable for insertion into a round hole ofvirtually the same circumference as that of the bundle. A pipeconnection is then made to the inlet and dirt is iilled in on top forlandscaping purposes.

More particularly, as shown in the drawings, the pipe lengths aregrouped in side-by-side alignment so as to form a hexagon in section.Each is preferably molded from fiber impregnated with bitminousmaterial, which is particularly suitable for this use because of itslightness, strength and resistance to decay. In the embodiment of FIGS.l-S, the outside pipes in the bundle have round perforations 12 and allthe pipes designated 13, which in part at least fall within a transverseregion of width equivalent to the pipe diameter, have squared ends. The

remainder of the pipes 14 have their upper ends cut offV at an angle totheir axes and are arranged so that their openings at this endeffectively face toward the aforementioned transverse region. Disposedin this transverse region and resting on the tops of the pipes 13 is ahorizontal distributing pipe 15 adapted to be coupled to a drain line'20 as shown in FIG. 3 in dotted outline. Along the bottom of the pipe15' parallel to its axis there is provided a saw-cut or groove 16. Bymeans of this saw-cut the distributing pipe is adapted to communicatewith the upper ends of the pipes 13 which, in turn, are adapted tooverow into the pipes 14. To insure this latter result there is provideda cover 17 'which rests on the upper extremities of the pipes 14 andwhich has a hexagonal shape `corresponding to the cross-sectionaloutline of the ipe bundle. This cover may corn-prise plywood, forexample, or wire mesh of some kind. In the latter case, especially, itwill be essential, of course, to provide some form of outer covering aswell. Hence, as shown, a sheet 18 of bituminous-impregnated heavy dutyfelt is placed on top of the cover 17 and brought down over the sides ofthe bundle for a short distance where it is held in place by a band 19.Slits 21 are provided in the outer covering 18 so as to form in effectdepending skirts 22. One of these skirts is provided with an aperturethrough which the distributing pipe 15 projects for connection to thedrain line 20, and diametrically opposite thereto, in another oftheskirts, is a hole optionally to admit another drain line 2.0' leading toanother receptacle unit. Ordinarily the drain lines will be of the samediameter as the distributing pipe 15 in which case line 20 can be joinedby means of a sleeve coupling, as shown; or they will be of a smallersize such that they will t tightly within the distributing pipe. Sinceit is unnecessary to provide a tight connection inside the nest ofpipes, no coupling has been shown for the drain line 20'.

At the bottom end of the bundle there is another band 23 which is passedaround the pipes. Also the outside ring of pipes are out off at an angleand arranged to face :away from the center of the bundle as shown inFIG. 2. Not only does this effectively increase the size of the pipeapertures discharging into the ground but also it eliminates the needfor squaring olf the sides of the hole in which the receptacle is placedor making it larger than necessary. It will be understood, however, thatthis feature is not absolutely required according to the invention,which is likewise true as regards the number, shape and size of theopenings provided in the walls of the pipes.

In operation the assembly is placed in a hole with the pipessubstantially vertical, and a connection is made to distributing pipe15. Water enters through distributing pipe 15 and passes into the pipes13 by way of the sawcut 16. If pipes 13y become full due to theinability of the water to flow out of them and into the ground fastenough, commensurate with the rate and amount of inilow, the wateroverflows into the pipes 14. Most of the pipes 14 are located on theoutside of the bundle and are provided with the apertures 12. Hence, forthe most part the water will seep into the ground from these pipes at afaster rate.

In FIGS. 6 and 7 there is shown a modification of the receptacleaccording to the present invention which is especially suited forconnection to a vertically oriented drain line. As shown in FIGS. 6 :and7, this modiiied form of receptacle comprises a pipe bundle similar tothat of FIGS. l-5 except that all the pipes 31 are of the same lengthsave for a central distributing pipe 32. Pipe 32 has a terminal portionwhich projects above the pipes 31 and which is adapted for connection toa downspout or other drain line. The cover used in this case comprises asheet of the same kind of material as outer cover 18 in FIGS. l-S and itis provided with a central aperture through which the projecting end ofdistributing pipe 32 is passed. There is no under cover because all ofthe pipes 31 are cut off square yat the top as well as the bottom,thereby effectively providing a reinforcing support for the cover. Itwill also be observed that all of the pipes 31 have slots formed bysaw-cuts instead of round holes, such slots serving in general the samefunction as the holes in FIGS. l-S. By way of example, there have beenshown five equally spaced openings or saw-cuts made in the walls of theoutside ring of pipes, each having a maximum depth of approximatelyone-half inch with a threesixteenths inch kerf.

In the further modification of FIG. 8, all but the outside ring of pipesare discontinuous. That is to say, approximately the middle one-third ofthese pipes has been dispensed with, leaving only upper and lower endportions to form the bundle. In this way it is possible to realize asubstantial saving in the overall cost of the pipes.

The optimum size and number of the holes in the pipes will depend tosome extent on soil conditions. In some instances it may be best to havevery few holes with larger diameters to avoid plugging, and in otherinstances a large number of small holes to better distribute and therebyincrease the rate of flow out of the pipes. Instead of holes, it willalso be possible, of course, to use saw-cuts as in FIGS. 1-5 and viceversa.

Various modifications of this nature that are Within the spirit andscope of the invention will, no doubt, occur to those skilled in the artand therefore the invention should not be deemed to be limited to thedetails of what has been described herein by way of example but ratherit should be deemed to be limited only to the combination as claimed.

What is claimed is:

l. A preformed unitary receptacle for use in forming dry wellscomprising a group of hollow open-ended fiber pipes arranged invertically extending laterally abutting relation, a cover extending overthe upper ends of said pipes having -a skirt extending around the upperportions thereof, a distributing conduit extending through said coverproviding fluid communication with said pipes, at least some of saidpipes being perforated and having bevelled faces at their upper ends,the bevelled faces being positioned for fluid communication with saidother pipes, and means binding said pipes and cover together into aunitary bundle adapted to be positioned as a unit in a dry well.

2. A unitary receptacle for use in forming dry wells comprising a bundleof cylindrical open-ended ber pipes disposed in laterally abuttingrelation, some of said pipes transversely of said bundle having theirupper ends terminating below the upper ends of the remaining pipes andforming a space between said remaining pipes to accommodate ahorizontally extending distributing pipe, the remaining pipes havingbevelled faces at their upper ends and some of which have apertures intheir peripheral wall, the lower portion of said bevelled facespositioned for fluid communication with said other pipes, a waterimpervious cover extending over the tops of all of said pipes coveringsaid space, said cover having skirts extending downwardly around theupper outside portion of said bundle, means holding said cover and pipesin a unitary bundle for positioning as a unit in a dry well, and opposedapertures in said skirts aligned wit-h said space for permittinginsertion of a horizontal pipe across the top of said bundle beneathsaid cover.

3. A receptacle as claimed in claim l wherein at least some of theinterior pipes in said bundle are discontinuous and define a spacetherebetween interiorly of said bundle.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,767,801 Eads Oct. 23, 1956 2,802,339 Fogerty Aug. 13, 1957 FOREIGNPATENTS 215,502 Australia Jan. 23, 1958

